


A Spectrum of Black

by Inwitari_Turelie



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Gen, Kid Fic, Pre-Hogwarts, Seeds of Realationships, The Purebloods are stuck in the 19th century
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-02
Updated: 2010-06-02
Packaged: 2017-11-06 15:09:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/420252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inwitari_Turelie/pseuds/Inwitari_Turelie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A tea party at the Blacks. Bellatrix & Andromeda run amok in the garden. Narcissa mimics the adults inside with dolls & a bored Rodulphus and Lucius find they have rather different preferences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Spectrum of Black

There were three Black sisters and none of them were quite the same. 

For a start Bellatrix and Andromeda Black did not care much for appearances or stifled parties.

This explains why they were to be found playing in the garden instead of inside the house where their mother had several other respectable matrons to tea. Now some sections of society held that running was most certainly not an acceptable activity for a young lady of highest blood purity but neither Bellatrix nor Andromeda cared one whit for that. The lack of interventation from their mother was more due to the fact that they hadn't even gone to Hogwarts and thus they could be still be excused than any liberal principles. Moreover it was quite possible that having sent the children off "to play" to remove them from the room; she had quite forgotten them. She did afterall hold to the old traditions on child-rearing which held that much of it was best left to the house-elves.

Narcissa Black on the other hand did care for appearances and stifled parties. She was a rather different child to her sisters on that count and many more as many siblings are. Still her mother had sent her out with the other children nonetheless. This difference was however the reason why Narcissa had not followed her sisters into the garden but rather dithered in the doorway before resolutely heading back into the playroom.

The older two girls did not miss her presence overmuch. She was still there if they needed her, they could even see her as the playroom adjoined the garden, and surely if she really wanted to play then she'd follow them out. They, or rather the second of the two, would not force her out. They called themselves Bella and Andy and they called her Cissy and saw her as a bit of a baby for all that the gap between her and Andy was the same as that between Andy and Bella. Perhaps it was to be expected since she was the odd one out with her straight blonde hair and the flower name. Andy at least however was never cruel to Cissy and often asked her to play and the situation had come to arise as much from the fact that Narcissa didn't want to play their games as from them forgotting her. Even Bellatrix was as kind as Bellatrix was wont to be. Which was not extraordinarily, perhaps but far more than one would expect having based their observations on her interactions on those not her family.

The two elder girls did as they wish a surprising amount of the time and frankly thrived on adrenaline. That they were named for stars to reflect their need to prove themselves above the rest rather than simply a quirk of family naming choices. Their father was still at the stage where he adored them too much to punish them and they took full advantage, running wild and doing as they wished.  Their current vogue was for competitions and dares and while some of it came from engineering the situation so someone had to do something; much of this was precipated from fact they liked to win, having a forthright belief they could do anything better than anyone else could. They were after all they were Blacks.  This was something they never failed to prove against the the boys they preferred to play with. Only last week they had bettered Rabastan Lestrange at flying on his own broom.

At is at this point the two sisters' stories diverge. For despite what has been said thus far Bella and Andy were no more twins souls than they were physically despite their similar looks. It had been Andromeda who had flown the highest; who had been the most reckless and had won. Everyone had had to admit it. However it had been Bellatrix who had teased the younger boy and driven the fact home before kicking him when he had fallen to the ground in front of his amused brother. Bella had also accused Andy of acting like a _Gryffindor_ of all things which her sister had thought was just rude and had refused to speak for Bella for a week afterwards in a fit of pique. 

Neither of Bella's actions where particularly unusual for her. Though both her sisters shared her tendency to insult people by referring to the dreaded house. In fact however it was becoming clear to even to Andy that Bella could really be rather cruel. Cissy had something of an inkling earlier, since Bellatrix had more control of her magic earlier in her life than in Andy's, but believed it to be restrained to inanimate objects and House Elves and therefore just a minor annoyance which might yet turn out useful if Bella was as good as Dark Magic as she promised. Andy on the other hand, perhaps from seeing more of Bella's actions, was more aware that it was something Wrong. Yet Andy also knew that when she sneaking out of the house and playing in the park with the muggle children who had no idea who she was was Wrong too. That was probably what gave it that illicit thrill. That and the fact that once again she was demonstrably better than them; even if she sometimes wondered if they weren't also not that much worse than some of the stupider wizards she'd met. That was Wrong too. So Andromeda concluded that she was no better than Bellatix and might in fact be worse; for they had plenty of ancestors who sounded cruel and had done great things which is more than could be said for those who socialised with muggles. So Andromeda never said anything about how Bellatrix acted; a decision which perhaps lasted much longer than it should. Besides life for a Witch not yet at Hogwarts was prefectly boring so they needed something to distract them.

In fact life after Hogwarts tended to sound very boring too. The girls were rather given the impression that the future that was Expected of them included marrying well and no real career unless one counted writing fluff pieces in some magazine which they rather didn't. All three of the sisters had marked this in varying ways and in fact some of Bella's actions had a deliberate aim of scaring everyone so they obeyed her by that point. If she was going to marry, which she intimated was necessary to acquire a house and a good stock of money, then given the possibilites were mainly made up of the boys her parents let her play with she planned to have them defeated by that point. This was not something she had shared with Andromeda and Narcissa who she had decided where incurable romantics given they liked some very silly stories. Bellatrix had decided she would just have make sure she found them husbands under her thumb too.

Bellatrix's beliefs about her sisters were not quite right. 

Andromeda liked romantic stories but would have been appalled to think her sister thought her silly enough to think them reality. They were just stories after all and Miss Andromeda Black would sort out her life as it pleased her and only as it pleased her, not to satisfy her mother or the constraints of some story. She doubted would be hard to find someone suitable one day but she wouldn't let such unpleasantness effect her life now. 

Narcissa did want to emulate the stories but less for their romance and more because she had decided that she _would_ be noticed one day as the best of her sisters and this seemed an easy way to do so. She was, it must be remembered, the youngest. She had decided the easiest route to this goal was to become the perfect pureblood young lady and sat happily through her mother's tracts on the matter. She had noted that  the prince's in the stories always married beautiful princesses not silly tomboys. This was why Narcissa stayed indoors rather than following her sisters out to the garden rather than out in it playing tea with her favourite dolls. Cissy dearly loved her dolls and didn't understand why Bella seemed to think they were only for destroying. Normally Cissy let Bella's activities of that type go, simply thinking it was what Bella did but the last time Bella broke her dolls, Narcissa's accidental magic had set her sisters hair on fire. Their parents had been very proud of her blossoming abilities and even Bella had decided to be impressed rather than affronted since it had been extinguished immediately by a House Elf and hence no harm had been done. As was normal for the sisters Andy was kinder although Narcissa was similarly opposed to her sister's sugesstions that her dolls could look more interesting. How anyone could want pink hair rather mystified Narcissa but Andy had seen a person with it on a rare foray to muggle London and had wanted it ever since.

Now while the Black sisters played their chosen games in the chosen locations it must be mentioned there were other children at this gathering too. Their belated appearance came from firstly the current fashion for arriving late, the later the higher one viewed oneself, and secondly the attempted refusal of one Lucius Malfoy to leave the room. When the boy finally did so he walked though the doors into the garden room with ill grace. He accounted himself far too intelligent and important to simply be sent out to play like a toddler. Lucius fixated on the fact that while his mother had directed him out of the parlour where she was talking to Druella Black; Walburga Black had kept her son Sirius with her and he was much more important than Sirius who was only two.  He gave precious little thought to the fact that the Lestrange boys had been sent out with him too but Lucius didn't care much for the older boy nor for his younger brother Rabastan, but then that was not an uncommon opinion amongst their set. The Lestrange boys of course had acceptable blood and were generally acceptable company but were generally seen as rather boring. Lucius Malfoy held a particular grudge against Rod, as he called himself in an attempt to follow the lead of Bella Black, who he believed acted as if he was superior when Lucius was certain of the opposite.  

Unsurprisingly given their joint entrance the boys also noticed the young girl with the golden hair who looked a little younger than Lucius playing with dolls. Narcissa, for of course it was her was not unobersevant despite her other faults and when she realised they had noticed her she and asked very politely if they wanted to play. As young boys are wont to do at such suggestions Rod scoffed, believing he proved in that one refusal how he was most definitely a Wizard not a Witch, and she returned to her game politely although she was not old enough to hide to hurt on her face. Or so the boys saw it. It was perhaps more accurately a mix of hurt, embarrassment and anger mitigated by the fact that she hadn't really expected otherwise anyway but then the young boys hardly cared enough to notice any of that. Instead They then retreated to a corner of their own, choosing one commanding a good view of the window. At which point Rodolphus decided to start a conversation apparently completely unaware of how uninterested his accquaintance were.

"You know, Malfoy our mother's are probably planning our futures in there, who we'll marry and whatnot." Rodolphus proudly declared in the tone of children the world over who having copied one phrase they have heard adults use decide to think themselves adults and repositaries of all the accompanying knowledge of that state of being. 

"Well, _Rod_ my mother won't make me marry anyone I don't want to." Lucius said.

He was quite right for the fashion for arranged marriages had came and gone before their lifetimes. It this case though his confidence came less from a realisation of this state of reality and more from his forthright belief that his mother would not force him to do anything, except apparently leave rooms for the company of people who didn't know their place. 

"I think I'm going to marry Bella" the other replied ignoring him displaying a total lack of self-preservation. 

His brother on the other hand showed a rather higher level of that quality with even the look on his face of total horror failing to express the true extreme of his emotion. Lucius also showed his abilties on this quality though having had a less experience with Bella's quirks, his distaste came more from the fact that she acted like a boy and seemed thoroughly unimpressed with him to the extent of trying to force him to do things.

However he could hardly let Rod be seen to be planning more than him and frantically tried to remember all the girls he knew. A difficult task for he tended to ignore them. He had noticed that all the portraits of his family's wives shared certain attributes but he wasn't sure whether or not that were all necessary. In the end he opted for the easiest solution, something that had served him well this far in life, and stated confidently "I'm going to marry her" pointing at Narcissa.

It hardly needs to be said that Rodulphus seemed unimpressed by his choice given the differences between Narcissa and his preferred sister nevermind the fact the other boy had clearly not given this much thought. He chose to continue his loquacious streak and pointed out that she was boring and how Bella was much more fun and knew all the best games before deciding that he should be playing with Bella rather than talking to Lucius and going out the door dragging his terrified brother with him.

At this Narcissa saw her chance noting that the mean boy had gone and decided to ask the blond boy they'd left behind if he wanted to play again. He must be acceptable if he was here he decided and he hadn't actually turned her down this time. On Lucius' part he decided to accept since he didn't actually have anything better to do and since he'd just claimed he was going to marry the girl, it might do to have some proof for Rodolphus. Delighted she brought him over to the table trying to copy the mannerisms of her mother Druella. This was not so very different for she had already perfected the summoning House Elfs with a click of her fingers and being the obilging creatures they are this one brought them real tea and cakes. She wasn't entirely sure how to be the perfect hostess as often people didn't want to practice with her but she unwittingly hit the nail on the head by head, in Lucius Malfoy's case, by listening to his stories eagerly and being suitabley impressed. She was perhaps one of the few people in the world not to find this a hardship in fact she was rather upset when his mother called him to go. She decided that he seemed much nicer than the other boys she knew, an admittedly sparse list made up mostly of the Lestranges who idolised her sister, her Rosier cousin who idolised her other sister and her Black cousin who was too litte to be very interesting.  This being the case she decided that Lucius Malfoy got an automatic upgrade on her list of possible princes to rescue her from their townhouse.

In his part Lucius had discovered that he rather enjoyed obliging the younger girl in her tea party. This was a major surprise to him given he'd never really enjoyed obliging anyone but himself before. Yet pleasing Cissa hadn't been like pleasing other people; she had listened to him and made him feel important, a sure way to his heart.  He wondered if perhaps Rodolphus' silly idea and his own response did have some merit. He had liked her and with that relisation he dicided that if If any of the other boys decided to try and be friends with her he would warn them off. Lucius had already decided she was his and what a Malfoy wants, a Malfoy gets.

What few people knew was that Druella Black did not much care for parties and meetings, many of the women she met where vapid and stupid.  The scene she had noticed in the garden room had pleased her though. She had sometimes felt she had failed in producing Narcissa who looked so much more a Rosier than a Black. Her name had been an acknowledgement of that. Now, though it seemed as if this could be in her favour. She smiled no doubt this was just some silly childhood friendship but it couldn't hurt to get to know the Malfoy matriarch better.


End file.
